Undecided EU referendum voters hold Britain’s future in their hands – so what will make them choose?

Undecided EU referendum voters hold Britain’s future in their hands – so what will make them choose?
The Mirror’s ‘EU The Jury’ panel of 12 floating voters have their say on the campaign so far and the key issues which will ultimately inform their decision.

With just over two weeks to go until the country decides our future in the European Union, polls suggest almost a fifth of voters are still undecided.

With claim and counter claim, lies and disputed statistics, it’s no surprise 18% of people are still unsure whether they’ll opt for Brexit or Remain on EU Referendum day, June 23.

Tonight, Prime Minister David Cameron , who wants us to stay in the EU, and UKIP leader Nigel Farage, firmly on the Leave side, appear live on ITV answering questions from a studio audience.

Watching them carefully will be our ‘EU The Jury’, made up of 12 Mirror readers among the undecided who will ultimately determine this crucial vote.

Here they tell us why they are still unsure of how to vote, and their concerns about everything from immigration and the economy, to the political climate and human rights:

The campaigns have made me even more confused. I really, really want us to clamp down on certain things and our borders really need seeing to. What I keep thinking is ‘does anyone even know anything about any of details?’ I don’t think anyone does. I feel like even if they do give us more information you never know what to believe because politicians all have their own agendas.

Dom Abubakar, 26, business development manager from Manchester

Being part of the EU makes us more secure because of free trade and the sharing of intelligence between countries. No-one in the Brexit camp seems to have an idea of what to do if we actually leave, so I’m hesitant because ‘better the devil you know’ and all that.

Maureen Higgins, 56, retired local government worker from Birmingham

The thing that frustrates me is that polar opposite people on the political spectrum are joining together in both the Leave and Remain campaign. How on earth can you convince someone like me, a Labour supporter, to vote Remain when Labour politicians are rubbing shoulders with people like George Osborne and David Cameron?

Oscar Modupe, 45, IT manager and dad of two from Nottingham,

For me it’s not all about the finance side, it’s got to be about ethics and immigration – it’s got to be everything all rolled into one. Nobody is addressing this and that’s one of the reasons I’m not decided yet. Both sides need to come out with concrete facts that people actually understand and both sides are just scaremongering.

Sarah Arnold, 26, a statistician from Belfast

I don’t trust what the politicians and business leaders say and their reasoning for their choice seems to be for their personal gain and not that for the country as a whole. I feel a lot of people don’t care or have had so much information given to them by either campaign that they are overwhelmed and don’t know what is correct and what is not.

I do worry about the sheer number of people coming into our tiny island, speaking from experience with working in a school. However, I also feel we should be doing more for the Syrian refugees. My thoughts on staying in the EU are they look after workers’ rights and human rights.

Emily Hall, 32, writer from Yalding, Kent

The problem seems to be the lack of believable information on both sides, making it almost impossible to choose a course of action. The scaremongering tactics by Remain irritate me, yet the Leave campaign don’t actually seem to be very vocal. The main reason I’d consider voting Remain is the economic uncertainty of leaving. No-one wants to see more unemployment or small businesses struggling for trade.

The politicians are treating the public like fools a lot of the time. Voting either way won’t affect my job but I am worried about my children and my grandchildren – I don’t know what the bigger picture is and I don’t know what the answers are. Nobody really knows what will really happen if we leave and it’s all just speculation which muddies the water even more.

It’s a plague of both your houses, because both sides are just as bad as each other. There will be hiccups if we leave but even then we will have to broker some deal which will inevitably mean a flow of people between countries. But I agree with Jeremy Corbyn that we should try and change the union from the inside.

An unbiased as possible presentation of factual information on key topics would help me make a decision. What will the future look like either way? Why should we vote In or Out, who should we listen to and what would it mean for me? Everyone has an opinion, but no one presents hard facts.

It probably won’t have any impact on my own personal situation but what decision we make is very much going to impact on future generations. I do believe that we might just do really well if we left, but it’s a risk. My heart says I want to leave but my head is telling me we need to stay.
Clara Strunck
Clara Strunck, 23, student from London

I don’t think it’s a bad thing so many people are undecided – people taking the time to really consider the issues shows they feel their vote counts for something, which is what a referendum should be about. However, I do think neither campaign has really presented the issues clearly.